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Inspiring Ghanaians – Sam Gyimah

Sam Gyimah – rising star in politics

How many black male UK politicians do you know? Well, you should know of Kwasi Kwarteng whom I blogged about last year (Profile: Kwasi Kwarteng, 17/05/2012), and there is also the Labour politician Chuka Umunna who has been labelled the “British Obama”. Apart from those two most people would struggle to name many others. However there is another equally talented politician of Ghanaian descent currently making waves in British politics.

Sam Gyimah is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey at the 2010 general election.

Gyimah was born in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, in southern England. He was educated at Achimota School in Ghana and later Freman College, a state school in Hertfordshire, followed by Somerville College at the University of Oxford, where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and where he was elected President of the Oxford Union. On graduation from University, Gyimah joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker; he left the company in 2003 to set up his own businesses in the recruitment and internet sectors. In 2005, he was awarded the Real Business/CBI Entrepreneur of the Future award.

In September 2005 Gyimah edited a Bow Group report, From the Ashes: the future of the Conservative Party. He subsequently was elected chairman of the Conservative think tank, the Bow Group from 2006 to 2007.Gyimah stood unsuccessfully for election in Kilburn ward in the Camden Council election in 2006.

Elected as the MP for East Surrey at the 2010 general election, Gyimah made his maiden speech on 29 July 2010. Gyimah sits on the International Development Select Committee, having stated an interest in harnessing the private sector towards achieving international development goals. Gyimah has also been active in debates on education and employment, as well as a number of local campaigns to protect the greenbelt in Surrey.

In 2011 Gyimah produced a report with think-tank NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts), titled Beyond the Banks, in support of non-bank alternatives for businesses seeking finance. He was the first MP to call for credit easing as a means of accelerating Britain’s economic recovery.

In October last year Gyimah was chosen as the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary. He will now be relied upon to keep the PM abreast of feelings towards the Government’s agenda within the party, and helping with prep for Prime Minister’s Questions.

So just two-and-a-half years since entering parliament at the 2010 election, Sam Gyimah is rising through the ranks and has been hand-picked by the Prime Minister to be his eyes and ears in the hallowed halls of Westminster. That is some achievement!

Thus Sam Phillip Gyimah; Me Firi Ghana salutes you! You can find out more about Sam on his official website – www.samgyimah.com